LEED program continues growing in S.A.

Updated 1:16 am, Friday, July 27, 2012

Green building practices aren't exactly widespread yet in San Antonio.

But they have taken a big leap from the days when people heard “energy efficiency” and pictured foam domes.

So far San Antonio has 62 buildings certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program of the U.S. Green Building Council, generally considered the most widespread, rigorous green building certification program in the country.

Another 161 projects are in the pipeline and will be applying for LEED certification — a process that involves third-party testing to make sure that a building actually performs the way it was designed.

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There are LEED programs for both commercial and residential buildings, but commercial projects tend to dominate the list of local projects. And most of those have been built for owners who intend to keep the building for the long haul, such as for a company headquarters where owners can capture the energy cost savings over time.

Elizabeth Heider, chair of the USGBC board of directors, said people are starting to think about the “life cycle” of a building and what it will cost to operate over time. Heider and about 400 members of the USGBC are in San Antonio this week for their mid-year meeting, being held at the Convention Center.

“It requires an upfront investment, but it can elevate and support the business objective,” Heider said.

The focus of LEED has been improving energy and water use, but in the next few years, Heider said the emphasis likely will shift to the ways that well-designed buildings can benefit people's health through better air quality and features such as natural lighting.

“It's easy to measure energy and water efficiency,” she said. “Over the next three to five years, human health and welfare and productivity will be come more important.”

For instance, Heider works for Skanska and said that sick leave dropped between 15 percent to 18 percent after the company renovated its Empire State Building offices to LEED-platinum standards. “That means productivity and lower health care expenses,” she said.

This week, Heider and other USGBC members visited Eagle Veterinary Hospital in Olmos Park, which has features such as rainwater harvesting and a solar array. But veterinarian Kenneth Kirlin said that elements such as the natural light in the building and a nonporous recycled tire tread material on the exam tables (so animals don't slip and slide on their claws), help lower everyone's stress level.

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“People work better in an environment like this,” Kirlin said. “The animals do better. The clients feel better.”

Mark Oppelt, a partner at OCO Architects, which has worked on several LEED projects, said more clients are demanding sustainable design, especially schools that are concerned about operating costs over the long term. But sustainable practices are not universal, especially with developers who don't plan to hold onto a property.

“I think it's a hard sell on the commercial side,” Oppelt said. “They're so bottom-line driven. Not too many developers are looking at long-term payback. There's an upfront investment, but it does pay itself back over time. Unless they're property managers too, they want to sell it quickly and move onto the next project.”

Texas has 802 projects LEED-certified so far and another 2010 in the works, according to USGBC.